DECATUR - Three high-profile convictions obtained in Macon County Circuit Court have been affirmed on appeal in separate rulings by the Illinois 4th District Appellate Court.

The cases involved Isaac Curry Jr., 49; Susan K. Wooten, 52; and Jeffrey A. Davison, 24.

Curry was convicted in March 2006 by a jury of using a butcher knife to commit the May 29, 2005, armed robbery of the Walgreen's, formerly located at Wood and Jasper streets. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole after being adjudged a habitual criminal because he had three Class X felony convictions, all armed robberies, within a 20-year period.

Curry asserted that his constitutional rights had been violated by the life sentence because the state failed to show his prior convictions on which it was based were unrelated events.

Writing for a unanimous court, Justice John W. Turner said, "Defendant's criminal history included convictions on three Class X felonies. Defendant's second offense was committed after his first conviction. He committed his third offense after the conviction for his second offense, and the third offense within 20 years of the date of judgment on his first conviction.

"Moreover, the three convictions neither resulted from nor were connected with the same transaction and were not committed at the same time. Defendant's convictions thereby satisfied the requirements of (state law)."

Wooten was convicted by a jury in November 2006 of attempted murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon for shooting her daughter's former boyfriend during a Dec. 3, 2005, ambush outside his Dalton City home. Wooten sat in her vehicle, and when the boyfriend arrived, they sat in their respective vehicles talking before she opened fire with a .22-caliber rifle.

Prosecutors asserted the dispute that led to the shooting involved a misunderstanding concerning Wooten's granddaughter, the offspring of her daughter and the boyfriend, Scott Taylor. After the shooting, Wooten drove to the sheriff's office and surrendered.

Associate Judge Scott Diamond sentenced Wooten to the minimum prison term of six years for attempted murder, plus a 25-year mandatory add-on sentence because a firearm had been used and great bodily harm done. That sentence was to be served consecutively to a one-year term for aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. He found the aggravated unlawful use of a weapon conviction merged with the attempted murder conviction, so no separate sentence was given for that conviction.

Wooten appealed and asserted 25-year enhancement sentence was unconstitutional as it applied to her case.

Justice Turner, again writing for a unanimous court, noted Taylor was wounded in an arm that contained major arteries that, if struck, could cause a person to bleed to death. He said Taylor was on his way to pickup his 3-year-old son before he stopped at home because he saw Wooten's car in the driveway.

"Clearly, defendant's 16 gunshots posed a threat to anyone in or near the victim's truck, and this incident could have been more tragic had the victim's son been in the truck or other family members home at the time," Turner wrote. "This, the facts of this case highlight the danger firearms pose and validate the legislature's decision to impose, for the protection of society, severe penalties when firearms are used."

Turner said while some mitigating evidence existed in the case, "it did not make the mandatory minimum sentence cruel or degrading or shocking to the community's moral sense where defendant was determined to confront the victim while possessing a firearm, began shooting the firearm to shut up the victim, continued to shoot all of the bullets in the gun because she was glad the victim was scared, and then rammed the victim's truck."

In Davison's case, he was found guilty of felony murder by a jury for the beating and stabbing death of James Norwood in the 700 block of East Prairie Avenue about 3 a.m. Dec. 3, 2005. Three other men were charged in the killing because all four had been searching for Norwood to beat him in retaliation for an earlier incident Dec. 2, during which Norwood hit one of the men with a club or bat.

Felony murder occurs when someone is killed while another felony is being committed. In this case, it was a mob action by the four defendants against Norwood.

Davison contended in his appeal the trial court erred in denying his motion to dismiss the felony murder charges and in denying his motion to suppress his statement to police because, despite his request for legal counsel, an attorney was not provided during the interrogation.

Justice Turner, supported by Justice Robert J. Steigmann, upheld the trial court's findings while Justice Robert W. Cook dissented.

Turner said evidence in the case showed Davison engaged in highly dangerous conduct of chasing a person with others who intended to beat that person, and thus the state was justified in proceeding only on the felony murder charges. He said during Davison's police interview, Davison did not make an unambiguous request for legal counsel, and police were justified in continuing to interview him.

In his dissent, Cook said Davison and two others "tracked the victim down with the intent to kill him or at least commit a battery. There was no other purpose to the mob action in this case."

Under that view, case law would support Davison's position that felony murder would not apply because the original intent was to kill Norwood.

Ron Ingram can be reached at ringram@herald-review.com or 421-7973.